Uncle Sam hovered over the small crowd of 200 protesters gathered in Moscow today to mark the first anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. The papier mache puppet–with dollar signs for eyes, a red white and blue top hat and cigar stuffed in his mouth–was held tightly by two young women wearing bandanas and Che buttons as a gaggle of photographers snapped away.
The demo–organized by an eclectic alliance of groups, including the Russian Communist Party youth offshoot, the Radical Socialist Party, Trotskyists, anarchists, Punk Rockers Against Putin, and the Globalization Institute–was one of many taking place across Russia. The marchers–most in their early twenties–were there to protest all forms of occupation and several of the speakers roused the crowd, despite a primitive sound system, by drawing a link between the US occupation of Iraq, Russia’s occupation of Chechnya and Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. For many of these groups, the war in Chechnya is a cancer on their country’s soul and without ending that war, they do not believe democracy in Russia is possible.
There were even chants of “Intifada, Intifada.” Many called for “Vova”–as Vladimir Putin is nicknamed–to step down. “Down with this War President,” the crowd chanted. Many spoke hopefully of the Socialist party’s victory in Spain. “Let us take an example from the Spanish people and oust this war government.” “Che unites, Putin divides,” one protester said. Other placards at the demo said: “No war for Oil!” and “Capitalism Kills, Death to Capitalism!” The only English language sign read simply: “No War!”
Most of the kids out protesting were born during the perestroika years and have come to their leftism out of choice not necessity. (“We know our Marx far better than the older generation, which was forced to read him in school,” one young woman told me.) When it came to style, the crowd looked like it would have at home at any protest march in the West: bandanas covered mouths, black ski masks were in vogue (as much to protect against Moscow’s subzero temperatures as a political statement), Eminem t-shirts and Che buttons were worn and protest flags were flown. The few babushkas present–elderly Russian women who told me they hadn’t received their pensions for months–were handing out Communist party pamphlets.
As the rally wound down, there was a roar from the last speaker–“Let us stomp out imperialist aggression!” Several protesters then gathered around Uncle Sam and began to tear apart the papier mache puppet. A young guy wearing an Arnold Schwarznegger/Terminator shirt began to stomp on Uncle Sam’s top hat. “Let us march to the US Embassy,” someone shouted through the megaphone. “Yankee, Go Home,” chanted a half dozen people. The last speaker then thanked the militia for their help in ensuring that the rally proceeded in an orderly way.
Correction:Thanks to Dr. Ross Worthington, who alerted me to a mistake in my recent weblog looking at how the idea of single-payer healthcare was catching on among businessmen and members of the medical profession. I should have wrote that “sixty-four percent of Massachusetts doctors recently endorsed a national single-payer system,” rather than sixty-four percent of doctors nationally. Click here to read the full article.
